Tag: health

So the title was almost “Feverish Mushings” which actually describes my state of being fairly well.

The wisdom teeth surgery went well – and by well I mean I don’t really remember it. The teeth came out; my face was numb for a day; pain set in for the next week. Five days after the surgery I had a sore throat. I battled with feeling crappy for a whole two days before finally succumbing to what seems to be a bad dose of flu; cold, cough, sore throat, fever. I’ve had five days of feeling very crappy and apparently I must look really bad because my Dad felt very bad about leaving me to go to Mauritius today.

Still, in my bleak crappy flu state I’ve been reading around the Harry Potter fanfiction as I haven’t had the will or energy to do very much else. It’s one of the largest fanfic collections as JKR is happily OK with the idea of fanfiction (with a few caveats in regards to shipping adult/child characters, sex, etc). I have to admit it’s fascinating to see some of the character interpretations: Draco recast as a witty aristocrat rather than a racist bigot with a streak of cruelty, Snape as a misunderstood caring man who really did love Harry underneath it all of his bullying and snarling at Harry, Voldemort as a misunderstood victim (!), Harry as Super!Harry with more magical gifts than Paul Daniels can shake a hat at or Harry as an abused child (because when you actually think about it, a child being locked in a cupboard, hit with a frying pan and being denied food on a regular basis is a case of abuse and neglect and goes beyond painting the Dursleys as horrible people and Harry’s early childhood as loveless), or Dumbledore as a great manipulator who only sees Harry as a pawn in the war against Voldemort.

The last (where they are well-written) are actually proving to be some of the more enjoyable stories for me because quite frankly my view of Dumbledore at the end of the books dovetails with this interpretation (I have no doubt Dumbledore as a character believes he truly loves and cares for Harry but his actions definitely show that he is primarily concerned with controlling Harry’s actions enough to get to the end game Dumbledore envisaged). These fics are also great for showing the plot holes and story inconsistencies that the books are riddled with as these same inconsistencies and holes are used to further the case against Dumbledore (why wouldn’t the Chief Warlock have the power to insist on a trial for Sirius Black, for instance).

It’s been interesting to read the various pairings. I’ve come to the conclusion that I hate the romance stories that pair Harry up, give his new romantic partner (be it Ginny, Hermione, Draco, Snape or whoever) the same level of powers as he has (or a variation thereof) so of course they end up at the final battle back to back with Harry helping Harry defeat Voldemort or in some cases defeating Voldemort instead of Harry. I like Harry as the hero of the story, the one destined to vanquish the Dark Lord; I really have no interest in seeing Ginny/Hermione/Draco/Snape/Ron/somebody else (delete as appropriate) do it. Equally, I don’t get the stories that recast Harry as an entirely different character by changing his appearance and name (to the point where a few chapters in he is no longer even referred to as Harry).

Admittedly, a lot of these stories are ones where Snape is revealed to be Harry’s father and Harry, in canon the living legacy of James Potter in appearance bar eyes like his mother, is revealed to have been glamour charmed since birth to hide his true heritage. Or there are the stories where Harry in a bid for independence changes his appearance and name to hide from Dumbledore and the Order. One of the most recommended HP fanfics actually falls into this latter category and I couldn’t stand it (which just goes to show that fiction is truly a subjective thing – I didn’t even find it that well-written).

Well I’m trying not to think about the fact that I’m having my wisdom teeth out tomorrow. However, it is a bit like saying ‘don’t think of the elephant!’ because, of course, not thinking about something means that you end up constantly thinking about something.

On a more positive note, I have started to do more things than read, eat and sleep. I’m just hoping that the dental surgery tomorrow doesn’t set me back too much.

So, my body has decided for the last week that it didn’t really want to do anything but read, sleep and eat. The downside to this is that all my plans including my writing have been put on hold; the upside is that actually my health – particularly in terms of fatigue/energy levels has started to improve as all three give me positive energy.

The major news of last week is that I’ve determined I need to get my remaining wisdom teeth out. One has finally fully erupted but I haven’t the room for it and it’s causing problems and the other is effectively in a teething stage (which quite frankly if this is how painful it is for first teeth then I’m not surprised babies wail the house down.)

So, I wrenched my neck on Tuesday and I’ve exacerbated the old whiplash injury. I’d like to claim I was doing something heroic but it was humiliatingly domestic and not worthy of being part of a story. Between this and the right ankle which still occasionally twinges (or the hip if I’m balancing my weight badly because of the ankle), clearly my body isn’t in optimum working condition. However, the fatigue is much, much better than it was which is great because pain I can manage; the fatigue I still have difficulty managing.

Unfortunately today I’m very stiff and pained because yesterday I cleaned the house. I’m beginning to think I should ask my Dad to pay for a cleaner for a year as my Christmas present but I know it’s a waste of money when my pain is under control. Possibly I just need to pace myself better (before Mauritius I had got into the habit of splitting the house up – top, middle and bottom on different days).

In other news, I haven’t done very much over the past couple of weeks (unsurprisingly) between the revision for the exam and the health issues but I did manage to find time to do the necessary things which included putting together the training material for a course I’m running pro-bono for a charity organisation in Novemeber. I’m looking forward to it. Next week, I’ll be focused primarily on the business as the psychology is now on hiatus until January – I do have a couple of projects in mind around articles but they’re not top priority.

Writing wise National Novel Writing Month starts on 1st November and I will be taking part again in the hopes of getting the draft of the novel finished. It’s been going reasonably well anyway but I like taking part in NaNoWriMo.

The cat is doing well. She’s completely settled in and spending time in the garden on her own and happily coming back in when she’s called. She’s still a riot. I’m looking forward to Dad meeting her since he’ll be home soon (and thank God because he can take over doing the vacuum cleaning).

Finally, let’s talk about the X Factor because clearly Simon’s advice to the judges this week was “be controversial and make it about you rather than the contestants.” Gary clearly tried by calling Sami’s performance boring and cruise ship (which was true even if she has a great voice – Louis did the same thing last time with Mary), and blaming Louis for making bad acts worse. I think the problem is that actually Louis does have great acts this season but he’s just using the same formula with them as he always does – hence Sami=Mary and the cruise ship comparison. With the other two he’s gone for the ‘put on a flamboyant show to hide the flaws’ strategy which is off target for a number of reasons. Kitty does suit a flamboyant styling and staging, but she’s actually is a better singer than she’s been given credit for, and with Johnny who can sing, has the most incredibly unique voice and seems to be a really likeable funny guy, it’s coming across as Louis making a joke out of him rather than celebrating Johnny’s very real talent. Maybe the strategy will keep them in the competition but especially with Johnny I feel its undermining his credibility as an artist: he’s not Lady Gaga.

Of course, Gary’s attempt at controversy was almost blown out of the water by Tulisa and then Louis calling out Misha (who had the stand out performance of the night) on her behaviour backstage. Personally, I agree with Gary and Kelly: if there is a problem it should have been handled backstage and not used in judging commentary.

And that’s it for this week. I’m off to do some writing and figure out a menu for next week so I can do my Tesco’s shopping…

I thought I would get today’s blog done early just in case I almost forget again.

In my New Year’s resolution list, health was the first resolution and I am putting it first right now.

I have pretty much deprioritised everything else this week except my health. What I said a few days ago holds very true: I can do anything – I truly believe that – but I can’t do everything all at once.

So, resting for the next three weeks.

Beyond that I have a Plan. We’ll see how it goes.

In more interesting news, I did have a great idea for a novel today; the character voice in my head was incredibly clear. Getting the article published has definitely renewed my writing spirit.

It occurs to me just how much I’m juggling and how likely it is that I’m going to drop a ball or two.

It would help if I kept to the schedule but having done the schedule I now seem to be taking perverse pleasure in ignoring it.

Not surprisingly since I ignored yesterdays ‘Rest Day’, I was very tired when I woke up. And of course, today wasn’t helped that I’d already arranged things – a catch up lunch with a friend, a meeting with the bank business manager and a coaching session which didn’t all quite fit in with the beautiful colour coding of the schedule’s suggested activities either (namely ‘Business Day’).

Well, the bank business manager did as I was setting up the bank account for the (hopefully) imminent business. Setting up a business is a new experience but it is fascinating and challenging. Still, I’m looking forward to the part where I’m ‘set-up’.

Balls are dropping as I’ve decided from a health point of view that I definitely need to rest over the next few days so activities that are lined up to happen…won’t. On one level I feel displeased that I haven’t got the energy to do them but on the other, I feel immensely relieved that I’m going to rest. And my body is definitely happy at the idea of resting so its the right decision.

On my beautifully (and now updated to include all hours) schedule, Tuesday is my rest day.

As I’m working for Aimhigher on Monday, it seemed sensible to schedule Tueday as a ‘don’t do very much day’ especially as the last two Tuesdays have seen me wiped out completely. So apart from one coaching session, the rest of my day is scheduled to consist of nothing but rest, eating, some wii, more rest…

Today, I was tired. Not as wiped out as previous weeks (which is good because I think it means my energy levels are recovering in the wake of the Christmas/New Year period), which meant rather than just resting, I decided today was the day to get on and do other sorting out jobs for the imminent new business…like sort out a PO Box, get some professional liability insurance – those kind of logistical, practical things which are small but seem to take an inordinate amount of time.

Which meant really today has been a work day. Maybe an early night then…

And just as a complete non sequiter, how did I not know that ’80s TV show The A Team was being remade as a action film? Due out soonish? With Liam Neeson as Hannibal Smith?? The trailer actually looks quite good. I’m intrigued.